Europa League: Rampaging United storm past Sociedad to take Europa first leg advantage
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| United players celebrate after outclassing Real Sociedad in Turin on Thursday. (Photo credit: BBC UK) |
Manchester United have all but qualified for the round of 16 of the Europa league after a comprehensive 4-0 annhilation of Real Sociedad away from home on a night they came up against one of their own.
Due to travel restrictions in Spain, the game took place in Turin
with Manchester United being the away side on the night, meaning La Real lost the advantage of playing
in their home stadium.
Billed as one of the ties of the round, it lived up to
expectations with both attacks looking dangerous in the first half and Marcus
Rashford should have opened the scoring early on when put through, but
shot straight at goalkeeper Alex Remiro.
United did open the scoring on 27 minutes as Remiro clattered into
defender Robin Le Normand, allowing Fernandes to tap into an empty net
from close range and net his 20th goal of the campaign in all competitions.
La Real finished
the half the stronger but, despite some shaky United defending, the
"home" side failed to take advantage.
Former United academy graduate Adnan Januzaj was up
against his old side for the first time since his departure for Spain in
2017 and told Sky on the eve of the game that he had absolutely nothing to
prove.
However, like former Manchester City captain David Silva, the Belgium international's
impact on the contest was minimal.
Fernandes made it 2-0 on 57 minutes after cleverly stepping over a
Rashford through ball, which found Daniel James who slipped in the Portugal midfielder.
The goal was initially ruled out for offside, but a VAR review overruled the
original decision and referee Sandro Scharer awarded the goal.
United's third came on 64th minutes as Rashford ran on
to Fred's pass to poke the ball past Remiro and put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side
in firm control of the tie.
James thought he'd added a fourth three minutes later when he
coolly finished from Mason Greenwood’s pass, but the England
youngster was flagged offside.
The Welshman did eventually make it 4-0 with a close-range
finish in the 89th minute.
United, who won the trophy in
2017, are among the favourites and Fernandes said they plan on going all the
way after being knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage.
"We're in this competition to win it," he said.
"My target is scoring the most goals I can and trying to
assist my teammates in scoring too. My target is trophies, and winning trophies
is more important than scoring goals.
"Today I think we did everything well. We still have the
second leg and a tough game at home; 4-0 is a good result but we have to be
aware of what Real Sociedad can do."
Solskjaer praised Fernandes for his effort.
"He's good at finding spaces
and his technical ability when it comes to chances is top class. Two very good
goals," Solskjaer said. "Bruno always wants to do the next thing
correctly. He wants to do the next thing at the best of his ability and that is
a very good attribute and quality to have. You never rest on your
laurels."
He
added that last season's semifinal run in the competition, in which United lost
to eventual champions Sevilla FC, has helped inspire this season's campaign.
"I
think the experience from last season has helped this team, these boys, and we
have got to learn from experiences on the job," Solksjaer said.
"That's the only way of learning from your mistakes to correct them."
The
second leg will be played next Thursday at Old Trafford.
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